North to South in 3 days

After a somewhat hectic, but nice weekend my mom and I started our journey South; a + 2100km trip through Sweden, down to my parents place in Halmstad where I will spenda couple of days repacking my stuff, writing on my thesis and enjoying the spring before I head over to my to my apartment in Aalborg, Denmark.

When I drove up to Narvik last summer, I did this through Norway and it would be alie to say that the Swedish road is more scenic than the Norwegian. There are a lot of threes in Sweden, a lot… But newer the less, the endless rows of pine trees also have their charm. All the books I have read about trolls when I was younger always makes so much sense when driving around in the middle and northern parts of Sweden. Endless roads, red wooden houses once in a while, but mainly a lot of deep and dark forrest.

Lapporten seen from Björkliden

A quiet lake outside Jokkmokk, Lappland

We slept at my friends place outside Älvsbyn the first nigh and she took us to this fantastic lake. 22.00 o´clock..

The sign says “Only for authorised vehicles”. During winter, tyres and cars are tested on the lake since one of Europe’s biggest test centres are located in Älvsbyn

The High Coast Bridge (Högakustenbron) between Kramfors and Härnösand.

I have been living in the south of Sweden or abroad the whole of my life. We have gone skiing in the winters and camping in the summers when I was younger, so I have been around a lot in Sweden, I thought. Sweden might not be a huge country, but it is long, very, long. We drove approx.. 2100km in three days and stopped in Gällivare, Jokkmokk, Älvsbyn, Piteå, Umeå, Örnsköldsvik and somewhere close to Gränna. It took three days to travel to the Spring and this will be celebrated tonight.

On the 30th of April or “the last of April” the Swedes (and many other Europeans) are celebrating Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Night in English I think). The festive is a celebration of the arrival of spring and since I have to write on my thesis the following days there will be no party for me tonight, but I will try to convince my parents to join me for a walk down to the big bonfire in our neighbourhood, a slightly more traditional way of celebrating this night.